Ankara - The Turkish General Staff on Friday expressed opposition to an internet campaign in which almost 14,000 people have apologized for the "great catastrophe" during the First World War when hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks, NTV television reported.

"We do not find it right and this may lead to Turkey being hurt," NTV quoted General Staff spokesman Metin Durak at a media briefing.

The "I apologize" campaign was initiated by Turkish journalists and academics and was launched on Monday.

"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them," the website of the campaign says, followed by the names of over 300 people who started the campaign.

According to Cengiz Aktar, the aim of the campaign was not over whether or not a genocide had been committed but was about breaking taboos in Turkey on discussing the issue.

"This is not a campaign about the genocide debate," Aktar told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The campaign has been condemned by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as opposition figures.

President Abdullah Gul was more nuanced in his response saying that the campaign was itself proof that freedom of speech had improved in Turkey.

Writers and journalists have been taken to court in the past for discussing the massacres that have been described as a genocide by many historians, the most famous being Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk was found not guilty after the case against him was dropped on a technicality.

Official state history refuses to admit that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman Empire actually constitute a genocide.

Turkey says that while there were massacres of ethnic Armenians the events were the result of a civil uprising during the war. A group of former Turkish ambassadors have issued a counter statement declaring the petition as against Turkey's national interests.

Neighbouring Turkey and Armenia do not have any diplomatic relations and the land border between the two countries was closed by Turkey in 1993 in protest at the Armenian occupation of Nagorno- Karabakh.

A thawing in relations has begun in recent months with Gul in September becoming the first Turkish head of state to visit the Armenian capital Yerevan. (dpa)